As you (the OP) can see, there are going to be varying opinions on this subject, and people are going to have wildly varying favorites in terms of HOB filtration...
Just to add more fuel to the proverbial personal opinion fire, I used to run Tetra's Whispers when I was young and into keeping tropicals with my dad; since starting up a 60-gallon goldfish tank some two and a half years ago (and, recently, a 10-gallon housing a Red Cap Oranda and orange-colored fancytail), I have been running an Aqueon QuietFlow 55 and AquaClear 110 on the 60-gallon, and an Aqueon QuietFlow 20 on the 10. To me, running the AquaClear and Aqueon on the larger tank allows for the best of both kinds of filtration from these units; the Aqueon and its dual carbon cartridges and specialized "bio grid" and wet/dry system plus the AquaClear's sponge/BioMax setup. Both do a good job at filtering, from what I can see, but as everyone has been saying, with the AquaClears, you don't have to keep running out to buy new media replacements as you do with filters that take the "cartridges" (once they get really nasty or completely clogged). Some suggest even cartridges don't need to be replaced, just rinsed -- but with the Aqueons, they get so ridiculously matted and nasty with brown debris that they suck up from the water, I found myself always just changing them per the manufacturer's instructions (of course, many argue this is a money-making tactic, but I just preferred clean media pads). With the AquaClears, you just need to rinse out the sponge and BioMax when they start to look cruddy and loaded (moreso the sponge) in removed tank water so you don't lose bacteria colonies...
The Aqueons feature a patented "biogrid" which translates to blue plastic pieces that are supposed to house the BB -- so, in theory, throwing away the cartridges and replacing with new ones is not supposed to cause a bacterial crash and bloom; the bacteria is still supposed to reside on these blue pieces of the filter (the two "biogrids" the cartridges slip into and an "oxygen bar" piece before the water return flow)...
Still, FWIW, even the small Aqueon QuietFlow 20 on my 10-gallon keeps that water crystal clear even if parameters are out of whack due to two goldfish being in there and poopin' up the place...
